Sandy Creek Plant

Sandy Creek Energy Associates, a subsidiary of LS Power Development, has proposed an 800 MW pulverized coal plant in Riesel, TX (near Waco). The Sierra Club, Public Citizen, and other groups are currently challenging the project’s permits in Texas state courts.

On July 18, 2007, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (whose three-member decision-making body was appointed solely by Gov. Perry, a long-time TXU campaign-cash beneficiary) issued an air permit for the project. In Aug. 2007, Dynegy announced that it had finalized funding for the project. As of Dec. 2007, Dynegy had not been granted final permits, but was already prepping the site for construction.

In April 2008, construction of Sandy Creek plant began.

Since construction began, there have been a number of challenges to the plant by environmental groups. On August 28, 2008, the Sierra Club and Public Citizen filed a complaint against Sandy Creek Energy Associates for failure to obtain a Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) determination for the plant. The Sierra Club and Public Citizen further argued that this failure violates the Clean Air Act (CAA). The two groups have requested that construction be halted until a MACT permit is obtained.

On September 9, 2008, the Sierra Club filed a federal lawsuit against against the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA),under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), for failure to disclose public information regarding federal loans for the construction of the plant.

On August 26, 2008, the Sierra Club submitted a letter to the USDA and its Rural Utilities Service (RUS), stating that they are in violation of federal law for approving investments in several new coal projects, including the Sandy Creek plant, without assessing the projects' environmental impacts under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

In December 2008, Dynegy CEO Bruce Williamson announced that the company was reevaluating its role in developing new power plants, including Sandy Creek. Williamson cited the tightening credit markets and difficulty in permitted new coal plants as reasons for reconsidering its involvement in the siting, permitting, financing and construction of several new projects. Other plants include the Longleaf plant in Georgia, LS Power Elk Run Energy Station in Iowa, Midland Power Plant in Michigan, Plum Point Energy Station in Arkansas, West Deptford Project in New Jersey, and White Pine Energy Station in Nevada. As an alternative, the company will look at adding generation to its existing sites in the Northeast, Midwest and Western U.S.

As of May 2009, Sandy Creek has yet to obtain a MACT permit for the plant. The company claims that it received a MACT determination in 2006, however the air permit contained inadequate limits for mercury and failed to include limits on other hazardous air pollutant emissions.

In September 2009, a federal judge in Austin threw out the final remaining legal challenge to the Sandy Creek Plant. The ruling against the Sierra Club and Public Citizen found that the plant's permit includes the proper pollution control technologies. Sierra Club is considering an appeal.

On November 23, 2010, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Texas Commission on Environmentally Quality (TCEQ) unlawfully approved the construction of the Sandy Creek coal plant - the plant had begun construction despite not complying with Section 112 of the Clean Air Act, as TCEQ did not obtain a Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) determination. The case will go back to the district court, and the Sierra Club said it will seek an injunction on any further construction unless and until the plant has limits on its emissions of mercury and other hazardous air pollutants.

Ownership shares
Sandy Creek Energy Associates is jointly owned by affiliates of Dynegy Inc. and LS Power Group. SCEA owns 575 MW of the Sandy Creek Energy Station. Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc. owns 225 MW. Lower Colorado River Authority owns 100 MW.

Project Details
Sponsors: Dynegy and LS Power Location: Riesel, TX Capacity: 900 MW Type: Conventional pulverized Projected in service: 2012 Status: Under construction Ownership shares: Sandy Creek Energy Associates (575 MW), Brazos Electric Power Cooperative (225 MW), Lower Colorado River Authority (100 MW)

Financing
8/30/07 - Credit Suisse and RBS Securities acted as lead arrangers to establish a $1 bilion financing package for Dynegy/LS Power’s Sandy Creek 900 megwatt coal-fired power plant in Texas. The project financing, includes an $800 million construction loan and a fully drawn $200 million term loan.


 * Citigroup
 * Credit Suisse
 * Goldman Sachs
 * JP Morgan Chase
 * Merrill Lynch
 * Morgan Stanley

Citizen Groups

 * Texans Protecting Our Water Environment and Resources, Ricky Bates, gunnyrlb [at] aol.com
 * Stop the Coal Plant
 * Sustainable Energy & Economic Development Coalition, Karen Hadden, karen [at] seedcoalition.org
 * Texas Sierra Club, Neil Carman, neil_carman [at] greenbuilder.com
 * Texas Public Citizen, jcarraway [at] citizen.org

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Coal plant litigation
 * Texas and coal
 * United States and coal
 * Carbon Capture and Storage
 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * US proposed coal plants (both active and cancelled)
 * Coal plants cancelled in 2007
 * Coal plants cancelled in 2008
 * State-by-state guide to information on coal in the United States (or click on the map)